Imagine if you could master the skills of a high performing CEO and translate this into your daily life. What would success look like to you then?

You have already been appointed the CEO of your life. When you begin to evaluate the people in your life, some need to be promoted, others need to be fired and new ones hired.

A CEO oversees every aspect of an organization; Finance, Planning, Sales, Marketing, Human Resources, R&D, Training and Education etc. What you probably don’t realize is, you are already carrying out the multiple roles of a CEO and the organization is… YOUR LIFE!

A CEO or Chief Executive Officer sets the future direction of an organization through a well-defined vision for the future and develops a strategy to achieve that vision.

Here are some of the many roles you already play in your life similar to a CEO of an organization.

Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Finance Manager

Brand Manager

Sales and Marketing Manager

Human Resource Manager

Risk Manager

Facility Manager

Visionary

Chief Operating Officer

Chances are you have never thought about the many roles you play in your life. Think about this. You are not only the CEO of YOUR life, you are also the COO (Chief Operating Officer.) As a COO, you are responsible for every aspect of your life and the day to day operations. Managing your time effectively, attending family meetings, making decisions, research and development and managing the people around you, all functions that exist within a well-run organization.

Finance Manager

Like any organization you control your finances. You either work for someone who pays you a wage or you work for yourself. You get to control what, when, where and how you spend your money, invest your money or save for the future. You pay bills and manage all aspects of your finances including taxes. This makes you both an accountant and a finance manager.

Also, like any organization, finances are usually a precious resources and limited. Therefore it’s up to you to manage your finances effectively that best serves your personal goals and objectives.

Brand Manager

Everyone, whether deliberate or not, has a personal brand. The way you dress, the way you talk, the way you present yourself. If your personal brand is built on fine values such as integrity, ethical decision making, honesty, commitment, empathy and even a great work ethic, this says mountains about your ability to succeed. A positive personal brand is endearing prompting others to want to be around you, learn from you and emulate you. It screams success.

On the other hand if your dress sense is sloppy, your language full of expletives, your work ethic poor and you are untrustworthy, this screams a lack of ethics and people who are not like this will not want to have anything to do with you. Imagine if this was you and your business, how do you think you would be perceived in the market place and who would want to do business with you.

Everyone, and every business is evaluated on their personal brand. Your personal brand makes or breaks your reputation.

A reputable CEO understands the value of a brand and are constantly looking to strengthen their brand. So should you. As the CEO of your life, it’s important to build a strong personal brand. Everyone you meet constantly evaluates you, the decisions you make and how this impacts on your reputation.

By building a positive and trustworthy personal brand, you create opportunities in life that help you achieve your vision and goals.

Sales and Marketing Manager

Don’t be surprised to learn that as the CEO of your life, you are also a sales and marketing manager.

Everyone needs to learn to sell, not necessarily as a full-time job. You sell yourself into a job or promotion and need to constantly sell your ideas. You promote and market yourself to a future partner in life through the dating process. You sell your parenting ideas to your spouse and children. You promote yourself to others, so they become friends with you. You sell others on the idea of watching a movie, going for dinner or purchasing that sporty new car you want. You even get to sell yourself to a mortgage broker when buying a home.

You are already doing this without realizing it – the difference is, how good are you in this role?

Human Resources Manager

Although you are the CEO of your life, you also get to pick who your trusted advisors are. They could be your spouse, partner, family, friends or even a coach or mentor. Keep in mind, while your advisors mean well and have your best interests at heart, they are also not always qualified to advise you on different aspects of your life. Sometimes you need to hire outside advisors who are better qualified such as a lawyer, accountant, financial planner in exactly the same way a CEO would hire the right people on their team to support the success of their organization.

As CEO, you get to handpick your board members and hire and fire the people in your life, (friends, family, associates, mentors, coaches and to a degree, work colleagues). If they serve you well and support your goals and dreams, you should keep them and value them. If they don’t, you should fire them and hire people who do support you and your goals.

Risk Manager

You are probably not even aware you are managing risks in your life all the time.

You virtually manage potential risks throughout your life. It might be managing interest rates, share prices, and in some cases you are required to have insurance such as motor vehicle insurance and mortgage insurance.

Life doesn’t always go to plan. People lose their jobs, their homes, have unexpected bills to pay and growing families. As the CEO you manage these unexpected risks in your life. You might even consider taking out life insurance and income protection insurance.

Finding out the best insurance company to work with, who offers the best policies, conditions and rates is something a CEO would do for an organization.

Facilities Manager

Any organization that operates out out an office, retail or warehouse facility, has to look after their facilities not to mention other assets such as vehicles, plant and equipment. Did it occur to you as the CEO of your life that you are also a facilities and asset manager?

If you own your own home you manage breakdowns and repairs, upgrades and the general maintenance around your home such as cleaning, pest control, grounds and gardens. Even if you are not a homeowner, you still maintain the cleanliness and hygiene of the inside of your home along with waste management.

What about outdated appliances and other assets, these too need replacing from time to time. Researching the best value and best supplier is a function within any organization and in your role as CEO of your life, this is a function you also perform. Don’t underestimate the value of getting this function right.

Lastly a Visionary

The greatest CEO’s in the world were also the great visionaries.

Martin Luther King (MLK), Nelson Mandela, and John F. Kennedy are examples of visionaries. Martin Luther King dreamed of an end to racism in the USA. Mandela’s vision was a South Africa free from apartheid. John F Kennedy’s vision was to put a man on the moon. These began as dreams, as a powerful vision for the future and their dreams came true. Their visions not only inspired a nation, they inspired the world. The more inspiring the dream or the vision in your life, the more likely you are to succeed.

When you have a powerful WHY or vision for the future, this is the impetus to face challenges head on, overcome adversity and persevere in the pursuit of your dreams. Without a vision, there is no engine to drive you forward.

What’s the impact?

Many people don’t understand the meaning of being a CEO of your life. Hopefully you can see how important it is to take this seriously and treat your life as a organization and put in the right strategies to succeed as your own CEO.

What’s often missing is having the right training and skills to succeed in every aspect of these roles.

Successful people live an intentional life as well as take 100% responsibility for their failures and successes. They are constantly learning, reading how to do things better. In other words, they invest in themselves and their personal development so that they might improve themselves and the world around them.

The million-dollar question is:

“Do you?”

In conclusion

You are 100% responsible for your life, health, wealth and happiness. You are the only one who has full authority over you. You succeed or fail as a result of the choices you make in life. As your own CEO, you have the ability and the authority to make executive decisions that will impact your life more positively.

Here’s a challenge for you.

Take a pen and write down all the different roles you play in your life.

Now write next to each role, how qualified you are to manage each of these roles? How good are you at each role.

Look at the gaps between what you are really skilled in and what you are not. Perhaps it’s time to invest in yourself and your training as a CEO.

Never be defined by your failures. They were a single event, not a life sentence.

On a final note

When you take control of your life and behave like a CEO, you immediately begin to see positive changes.

In a Nutshell

A CEO or Chief Executive Officer sets the future direction of an organization.

A CEO oversees every aspect of an organization.

You are not only the CEO of YOUR life, you are also the COO (Chief Operating Officer.)

As a COO, you are responsible for every aspect of your life and the day to day operations.

Like any organization you get to control your finances.

You earn money, pay bills and manage all aspects of your finances including investments and taxes.

Everyone, whether deliberate or not, has a personal brand.

A reputable CEO understands the value of a brand and are constantly looking to strengthen their brand.

Your personal brand makes or breaks your reputation.

You are also a sales and marketing manager.

You sell yourself and your ideas everyday; into a job, promotion, partner, spouse with friends.

You get to pick who your trusted advisors are.

You can hire, fire, promote or demote the people in your life.

You virtually manage potential risks throughout your life.

You are also an asset and facilities manager.

You manage the assets and maintenance in your home and your car.

It’s important to take your role as CEO of your life seriously. You only ever get to do it once.

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Carolyn Landesman

Carolyn (Caro) is an inspirational leader, motivator and founder of Strategez for Success. Caro holds a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA), is a Certified Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), a Sales Trainer, Business Coach and published Author. She provides easy to follow Strategez to help you achieve your personal, professional and business goals.